For its first appearance at Boston Comic-Con, IDW Publishing will be bringing the talented creators of Locke & Key and their collaborators, as the celebrated series opens the door on its final chapter, Locke & Key: Alpha. Boston Comic-Con will be held at the Seaport World Trade Center on August 3 – 4, and IDW will have some special surprises for the attendees!

Joe Hill and Gabriel Rodriguez will be appearing together for the last time before Locke& Key comes to its climactic conclusion. Joining the series creators will be IDW’s Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall. Shane Leonard, the artist behind Locke & Key’s striking photo-variant covers, will also be in attendance alongside Israel Skelton, the Skelton Crew Studios mastermind behind IDW’s sellout Locke & Key replica keys. Skelton will be bringing a variety of keys including the very limited SDCC Shadow Key and select other works with him for sale at the Skelton Crew booth, next to IDW’s booth.

In addition to the Locke & Key gang, writer Jason Ciaramella (The Cape, Thumbprint) and Hill’s newest collaborator Charles Paul Wilson III (Wraith: Welcome To Christmasland) will also be present for two huge signings with all these amazing creators in one place! The first signing will be held on Saturday from 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm and the next, Sunday from 3:15pm – 4:30pm. To help celebrate the tremendous signing C.P. Wilson III will be bringing some menacing prints with him from the new series Wraith: Welcome To Christmasland!

On Sunday August 4th a special Locke & Key panel will be held from 2:00pm – 2:45pm in the Waterfront Room featuring Hill, Rodriguez and Ryall as they reflect on the series and discuss the imminent harrowing future for the Lockes! A can’t-miss panel at a can’t-miss convention!

IDW is pleased to attend Boston Comic-Con, and looks forward to seeing you at the show!

ComixTribe is pleased to announce its featured guests for the 2012 New York Comic Con. This is the biggest gathering of ComixTribe talent ever!

Working the ComixTribe booth #2380 throughout the weekend will be ComixTribe publisher Tyler James (THE RED TEN) and NYC native Joe Mulvey (SCAM). For the first time ever, John Lees and Jonathan Rector, the award-winning creative team behind THE STANDARD, will be under the same room! And THE RED TEN artist and co-creator Cesar Feliciano will be joining the Tribe for the weekend as well.

But wait, as they say, there’s more!

To celebrate the debut of the OXYMORON anthology, a number of #Oxymoron2012 creators will be signing throughout the weekend.

THE CAPE LEGACY EDITION hits shelves on June 15th, and to celebrate the release, Larry’s Wonderful World of Comics in Lowell, MA, is hosting me for the evening. This isn’t going to be a regular, boring old signing with some jerk sitting behind a table while you wait in line. No. Screw that. We’ve got plans, and they’re fucking huge.

Larry’s hosts a local Drink & Draw on Wednesday nights with a different theme each week. The theme for June 15th is going to be THE CAPE, and I’m going to write an original, one-page CAPE script that will be kept secret until the event. Everyone in attendance will have the opportunity to draw my script, and here’s where it gets awesome:

THE DRAWINGS WILL BE COLLECTED, AND THE BEST ONE WILL BE PRINTED IN A FUTURE ISSUE OF THE CAPE.

That’s right. A chance to see your work published in a real-life comic book for people all over the world to see. Not too shabby, eh? You wont get that kind of love from Marvel or DC, I can assure you of that.

Also, for the writers in the group, I’ll be giving a little script writing seminar while the artists are doing their thing. It’s an open forum where I talk about some of the lesser known aspects of script writing, and then take questions. I like it to be more of a discussion, where everyone contributes and offers advice. I know nobody wants to sit and listen to me talk about panel counts for a half-hour, myself included.

Double Midnight Comics hosted their annual Granite State Comicon in Manchester, NH this past Sunday. Despite the wet weather, it was a packed house with several cosplayers showing up in character. Guests included local writers of The Cape Joe Hill and Jason Ciaramella plus artist Zach Howard, who received many well-wishes on their recent Eisner Award nomination. Artist Sean Gordon Murphy talked about his upcoming storyarc on American Vampire and what it was like working with Grant Morrison on Joe the Barbarian. And several contributors, including co-creators Rich Woodall and Adam Miller, from the ZombieBomb Comic Anthology were on hand to meet fans. It may only be a one-day show but supporting local homegrown conventions like this is the best way to encourage them to grow and for retailers to bring in more comic creators for signings. Thanks, Double Midnight!

Ed McGuinness – ED MCGUINNESS IS BACK AND HE WANTS TO CLICK! Ed McGuinness is returning to Rochester’s Free Comic Book Day Festival! This year he’s bringing his HeroClix and enjoying a Saturday Afternoon Game. Come and be a part of the HeroClix / FCBD fun! Artist on Deadpool, Vampirella, Superman/Batman and many more. Ed will be on hand to sign for fans and for the Friday Night Heroclix Tourney.

Thomas Sniegoski – Author Tom Sniegoski returns to Jetpack Comics FCBD festival this year! Tom’s body of work is incredible. Don’t forget to pick up his most recent work on BONE, The Quest for the Spark. Writer on Batman, The Punisher, Hellboy, Wolverine, Devil Dinosaur, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and the prequel to Jeff Smith’s award winning series Bone, which was called Stupid, Stupid Rat Tails: The Adventures of Big Johnson Bone. His most recent comic book work, written with frequent partner Christopher Golden, is The Sisterhood, published by Archaia Studios Press. Chris and Tom have also worked on the mini-series Talent from Boom! Studios, optioned by Universal Pictures. Tom will be on hand to sign for fans.

Joe Hill – Celebrating his first FCBD festival, the award winning writer of national best sellers 20th Century Ghost Stories, Heart Shaped Box, and Horns joins Jetpack with a special all ages Free Comic Book Day issue of his award winning comic series Locke & Key, currently in the works to be a Fox TV show! Joe will be on hand to sign for fans.

Jason Ciaramella – Joining Joe will be scripter Jason Ciaramella, who scripted Joe’s The Cape (not the TV show) and Joe’s Kodiak. Both Jason and Joe are Eisner Award nominees this year. Jason will be on hand to sign for fans.

Christopher Golden – Comic book writer, author with an impressive bibliography (including books like Strangewood and The Ferryman), co-writer of the online animated series Ghosts of Albion, who also wrote the introduction for Joe Hill’s 20th Century Ghost Stories. Christopher will be on hand with his special FCBD offering of Baltimore, or the Steadfast Tin Soldier and the Vampire to sign for fans.

Bob Raymond – An artist/comic creator who recently got some publicity when he did a comic for an unknown Senate candidate, Alvin Green of North Carolina, and had his comic shown on the Daliy Show with Jon Stewart and some small press publications to the Washington Post. Next up is a one shot through Jetpack Comics! Bob will be on hand to sign for fans.

Bill Mitchell and Kimball Thorpe – Co-creators of the web comic character Beanman. Bill and Kimball will be on hand to sign and draw for fans.

Heidi Brunelle – Creator of Amputee Bunny and Narcoleptic Owl at Jetpack Comics. Heidi will be on hand to sign for fans.

Greg Moutafis – Entering the industry in 1994 with a Xeric Foundation Award for Indie Comic Artists, Greg has illustrated a variety of stories and projects for publishers including Caliber, Jetpack Press and Lollipop music magazine. His latest full length projects are the 2005 superhero graphic novel The Rookie, with Killing Pickman writer Jason Becker, and the satirical graphic novel Boom!Squad with award winning prose writer David Crouse. Greg recently launched PREEMO STUDIO for his graphic design work and creator owned comic projects. Greg will be selling original art, as well as new, limited-edition prints and books at the show.

Rick Silva – Small press publisher and comic book writer. Rick published and edited Kinships magazine. Along with his wife Gynn, Rick is a partner in Dandelion Studios, a small press comic book company. Rick co-writes the Dandelion Studios comics Zephyr and Reginald: Minions for Hire, Stone, Kaeli and Rebecca and Perils of Picorna. He publishes his own zine, Caravan, and he is one of the featured contributors for the fiction webzine The Edge of Propinquity. Rick will be on hand to sign for fans.

Shaun O’Neil – A friend of the store who recently had a short story published in the Image Comics Anthology. The story he penciled was written by Robert Kirkman (writer on The Walking Dead)! Shaun will be on hand to sign for fans.

Joe Dellagatta – Artist on “Spared” in Egg: Hard Boiled Stories #1, “Fisherman’s Wife” in Mysterious Adventure Magazine, the online “Mr. Legacy” origin story, writer/artist on “Nick” in Zombies Anthology and currently working on his creator owned project, The Holy Diver. Joe will be on hand to sign for fans.

Rich Woodall – Local creator, writer and artist of the all ages comic, Johnny Raygun, produced by Jetpack Press. He is also the co-creator of the ZombieBomb! comic anthology. Rich’s other works include thousands of sketch cards for Topps card company including Indiana Jones, Star Wars and Marvel Comic Cards. Rich will be on hand to sign for fans.

Matt Talbot – Co-Writer and inker of Johnny Raygun and a highly accomplished graphic designer. Matt will be on hand to sign for fans.

Sara Richard – Artist currently working on solidifying a signature illustration style and freelancing with Hasbro. Sara will be on hand to sign for fans.

Other Events and Guests fro Free Comic Day:

The Star Wars 501st /NH Mandalorians – Star Wars characters on the stage at the Knights of Columbus Hall. Accepting donations and holding a silent auction for the Make A Wish foundation.

The Barrington Middle School Comic Book Club – The BMS Comic Club publishes ten AWESOME issues of “Multi-Age Media Presents” a year. All of the comics strips in each issue are made after school in the art room by students in grades 5 thru 8. The comic book sells in the cafeteria during lunch or through subscriptions delivered to home room. The profits from the comic go toward purchasing graphic novels for the students of BMS to read. This is the club’s fourth year (and second appearance at FCBD).

The Fatsquad - Jetpack Press’ own Fatsquad, with the success of their first nationally distributed publication, will be at FCBD selling all their fat goods.

Severed Head Comics – Once again, New Hampshire proves it’s the place that up and coming comic creators get their start. Severed Head Comics Presents is a horror anthology by a group of New Hampshire comic creators.

+ An inside look at the art of comic book script writing. Hosted by IDW writer, and Brockton native:

Jason Ciaramella explores the different elements of a professional comic book script, compares the scripts and styles of popular writers, and talks about the importance of math in comics. Yes, MATH! Aspiring writer? Comic fan? This seminar has a little something for everyone.